C412 The Ship in the Extraterrestrial!
On the island of Shadow's Keep, amidst the ruins of Skullcairn, a giant crow with gray wings lay sprawled on the ground, appearing to doze lazily. Suddenly, its eyes burst with light, illuminating the dark chamber!
Xu Zixi, seated cross-legged in a corner, was jolted awake and asked with bewilderment, "Master Dusk Raven, what's happened?"
Streams of energy surged from the crow's expansive wings, stitching together something unseen in the void. Inside the pavilion, the air was thick with demon energy.
The crow's gray wings began to fold inward, retreating into his body. Moments later, he transformed into a gaunt middle-aged man with a sallow complexion, clad in a long gray robe. Post-transformation, his prominent nose and sunken eyes gave him a look of severe malnourishment. His grayish-brown eyes spun wildly before regaining a semblance of vitality.
"Master Dusk Raven?" Zixi called out tentatively, hoping to draw his attention.
"I haven't assumed human form in quite some time; it takes a moment to readjust," he replied.
Dusk Raven, the guardian of Shadow's Keep in the Embers Sea, extended his withered left hand and yanked an object from within Skullcairn. It was an ice-blue crystal.
With a flash, a peculiar light beamed from Dusk Raven's fingertip into the crystal, revealing a colossal shipwreck resting on the seabed. There, motionless in the water, stood Yu Yuan before the sunken vessel.
"Yu Yuan..." Zixi gasped, her eyes fixed on the crystal's display. "Lord Dusk Raven, why are you showing him? This shipwreck must be thousands of years old. It's been picked clean of valuables; there's nothing left."
The emaciated Dusk Raven's eyes began to gleam with a growing intensity. "You know nothing!" he snapped, his gaze locked on Yu Yuan. "Look at what? There's nothing to see! It's just a wrecked ship. Now, scram!"
Zixi, at a loss for words, pressed, "Lord Dusk Raven, what's really going on here?"
She was certain there was more to the story than met the eye.
Based on what she knew about the lord, there was no chance he would take on human form just to concern himself with Yu Yuan and that sunken ship.
The ship had come from beyond the stars, destroyed in outer space before breaking through the cosmic barrier and plummeting here.
Shadow's Keep's archives noted that on the day the ship fell, a powerful cultivator from the Everlands removed the Otherkin corpses and scavenged every last item.
For thousands of years afterward, those who ventured to the Embers Sea for training had stripped the ship of stones, crystals, seeds, and everything else.
In the last century, no one had managed to find a single valuable item within the ship.
Yu Yuan stood there, staring at the sunken vessel, motionless. What could possibly have gotten Lord Dusk Raven so worked up?
Whenever Lord Dusk Raven abandoned his usual indolence and foul language, it was a sure sign that something was about to happen.
But what could it be this time?
"Damn that little pest!"
Lord Dusk Raven erupted in fury, glaring at the ice-blue crystal and launching into a tirade, "Why don't you scram? What are you poking around in there for? There's nothing left inside!"
Just then, Xu Zixi noticed Yu Yuan pause before the ship and then dive into it.
His actions seemed to deeply unsettle Lord Dusk Raven, who began to curse with even greater fervor.
At last, at last...
Yu Yuan, within the ice-blue crystal, vanished into the ship's hold and out of sight.
Lord Dusk Raven grew more agitated, cursing and stamping around the Palace of Bones, "What kind of fool just shows up? He ignores the freshly fallen starshard and lingers in this old spot. And it would be fine if he just stayed, but he's meddling with a ship that's been untouched for years. What is he after?"
"Lord Dusk Raven, can't you keep watching?" Xu Zixi prompted.
"Watch what?"
"See what he's up to in there?"
"Watch what, exactly? If I could see, don't you think I would? Do I need you to tell me that?" Lord Dusk Raven shot her a fierce look, his tone anything but friendly, "You damn human woman, do you really think you're smarter than me?"
"No, I wouldn't dare," Xu Zixi said, her expression peculiar. Seeing his emotional outburst, she refrained from pressing him further.
She began to harbor doubts herself, suspecting that there might be a secret hidden within the sunken ship. Xu Zixi was well aware that someone of Lord Dusk Raven's stature within the evilkind hierarchy didn't need to rely on an ice-blue crystal to perceive the minutiae of the ocean floor or detect any fluctuations from spiritual energy clashes.
Yet here was Lord Dusk Raven, resorting to an artifact to observe the ship and claiming he couldn't see anything inside. It all seemed quite suspicious.
After a bout of scolding, she realized she might have been too harsh and somewhat unreasonable. Lord Dusk Raven, with a forceful wave of his hand, exclaimed, "It's none of your concern. Don't worry about it! There's something odd about that sunken ship. You're not of high enough rank to be privy to the details, and it's not my place to disclose them."
"It is odd!" Xu Zixi's face fell as she replied, "Lord Dusk Raven, as I've mentioned before, he has deep ties with Yu Zhu from the Forgotten Ruins. If he runs into trouble in the Embers Sea, Yu Zhu will..."
"Enough!" Lord Dusk Raven snapped, his anger flaring once more. "He won't come to any harm aboard that ship! Why on earth did that accursed human choose that particular vessel, especially when there are three places I can't see?"
...
Inside the sunken ship, Yu Yuan swam through, shedding his previous indolence.
He navigated the pitch-black interior with intense focus, his eyes glowing as he searched for something. Eventually, he made his way to the stern and discovered the rudder.
The ship was battered and riddled with holes, its hull marred by numerous cracks, yet the rudder remained unscathed. The circular rudder, resembling a windmill crafted from black iron, was originally designed for steering.
Yu Yuan studied the rudder intently, pondering whether it was indeed the object in question. An old friend from the Devil Palace had once cryptically mentioned that within the depths of the Embers Sea, there were three mysterious places, each with its own enigma. This ship was one of them.
What secrets did these three mysterious places hold? Due to differing allegiances, the details remained undisclosed.
An old friend who had once roamed the island with him had pointed out three locations and shared a few secrets. He mentioned that the guardians outside these places were unable to detect anything with their eyes or remnant souls.
It was as if these spots were blind spots for both sight and soul.
Regarding the shipwreck, he hinted that the key lay in the ship's stern rudder but refrained from elaborating.
Yu Yuan now stood at the stern, scrutinizing the rudder. Despite a long examination, he discerned nothing unusual, and even when he covertly employed the Soul Forging through Enlightenment technique, his heaven soul's sharp intuition detected no anomalies.
Ultimately, he approached the rudder, placing his hands upon it and exerting force to twist it.
But the rudder was immovable, resisting his considerable efforts without budging an inch.
Yu Yuan spent a considerable time trying to manipulate it, to no avail.
He trusted that his friend wouldn't deceive him; the shipwreck's secret had to be connected to the stern rudder. The challenge was uncovering the hidden truth.
After further inspection, Yu Yuan steeled himself and caressed the Bracelet of Holding.
From the Forgotten Ruins, a sword sheath once belonging to a great cultivator from the Dark Realm emerged from the bracelet.
As the sword sheath left the Bracelet of Holding, the sunken behemoth from beyond seemed to stir.
Yu Yuan's grip on the sheath involuntarily tightened as he felt the sword light at the base of the sheath come alive with agitation!
Since the residual soul from the Dark Realm had dissipated and he had claimed the sword sheath, the threads of sword light and sword's will had been dormant, sealed within the sheath without a whisper.
Even after the sword spirit settled within him, the sheath had shown no signs of irregularity.
But now, as the sword's will and light within were released from the Bracelet of Holding, they seemed to awaken, sensing something.
Without time to ponder, the sword sheath in Yu Yuan's grasp began to pull his arm, directing itself towards the ship's stern rudder!
He was taken aback and tried to intervene, but realized it was already too late.
From the sheath, the fierce and unparalleled sword light began to coalesce, emitting a pure and radiant glow.
In that moment, as the remnant soul above the Devil Palace and Shadow's Keep conducted its search, the crimson sword light that had been lurking within the acupoints of his arm emerged. It slithered out like a dragon or a delicate serpent.
“Whoosh!”
In an instant, he and his scabbard vanished into the stern of the ship, disappearing from sight.
